


Cake

by thursdayknight



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Birthday, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, Fluff, M/M, Moving In Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23834584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thursdayknight/pseuds/thursdayknight
Summary: Billy gets Steve a cake.And also a present.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 15
Kudos: 133





	Cake

**Author's Note:**

  * For [abigailcathleen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/abigailcathleen/gifts).



> Written for abigailcathleen on her birthday! 💜

"You got me a cake?" Steve says, smiling from ear to ear like nobody's ever gotten him a birthday cake before, not even a cheap, crappy store bought one that looks like it has 'happy birthday' misspelled on it, like this one does. 

Steve looks so _freakin'_ happy and they're just sitting on the hood of Billy's car parked out in the field behind the chicken wing place, Sally's, or _whatever._ And if Billy had known Steve would light up like this, would be this level of goddamn _delighted_ over a simple _freakin'_ _cake,_ well, then he would have done much more than take Steve out somewhere private and get him a cake and a present. Billy's never been exactly the _biggest_ fan of birthdays, never seen much cause for celebration in his own life or in anyone else's, not before Steve, so it didn't really occur to him to do much else and if he's honest, even just going to the store and buying this cheap little chocolate cake and the red icing to write 'happy birthday!' on it had already felt pretty subversive, had already had him feeling just a little bit twitchy and maybe just a little bit meaner than he usually likes to be these days. Like yeah, he _might_ have sort of glared at the checkout girl when she smiled at him after he'd paid for his stuff and said, "Have a nice rest of your day!" 

Because something about celebrating a birthday, something about celebrating _anything at all,_ feels subversive to Billy, feels a little like he shouldn't be doing it. A little like he doesn't deserve it, considering who he is and what he's done in his life.

But Steve himself. Oh, Steve is definitely worth celebrating. Steve was definitely worth the cursing and the anger trying to draw those stupid words on that stupid cake had caused him - because cake decorating is an art, apparently, and Billy is sure as hell no artist. 

Steve, though. Steve is worth the _world_ and Billy really should have _planned_ something for his birthday.

Not that Steve had given Billy much time to do so, having only just casually thrown out that it was his birthday _last night_ while they were sprawled out on Steve's parents' sofa, like he'd almost forgotten himself that the day was supposed to be important. 

So even if Billy _had_ wanted to throw some massive kind of party for Steve for his birthday, it wasn't exactly like he'd been given a whole lot of time. Not that he's sure who exactly would've come these days, anyway - their reception in town once they started holding hands outside the house and just generally having the audacity, the gall, the sheer _balls_ to exist as queer men being openly queer together in public in Fuck-You, Indiana, well… let's just say the reception the town has been giving them could nicely be referred to as 'frosty' and leave it at that.

Robin would've come, though. And Max. And all her little friends in her little dork brigade - the ones Steve loves so much, they would have come.

And Steve would have loved that as much as he loves this _stupid_ cake.

"Did you…" Steve says as he reaches down into the box and smudges the lettering with his finger, only just barely managing to get any icing on his finger, "...do all this lettering all by yourself?"

He sticks his finger in his mouth, sucks it hard and draws it out with this wet little 'pop' that has Billy gulping and feeling, well, all kinds of feelings he can't exactly _do anything_ about in the field behind Sally's chicken wings, or whatever the place is called. 

"Yes," Billy says as he sticks a finger in and grabs some icing for himself. "I did." He sticks his finger in his mouth and swirls his tongue around and around it so he isn't outdone by Steve and his ridiculous mouth and ridiculous fingers. 

Steve doesn't seem to notice this though, he's too busy still positively _beaming_ at Billy for buying him the cake at all and it's enough to make Billy tip over into deliriously happy territory. But then Steve always makes him just _deliriously_ happy. 

He feels his own face breaking out into an unavoidable smile to match Steve's - a side-effect of prolonged exposure to Steve's ridiculous presence - and Billy wipes his hand off on his jeans. Then he digs his hand into his pocket and fishes out Steve's present. 

It's small, and poorly wrapped, but handing it over to Steve has Billy's heart kicking up a storm inside his chest. Like the kind that should come with a tornado warning, alarm bells blaring loud and long and everything. 

"Aww," Steve says, sounding just ridiculously fond, "You got me a present!" He looks so happy it makes Billy want to punch both of Steve's picture perfect parents in their picture perfect teeth because no way in hell is this the reaction of someone who's ever gotten a real birthday gift before and Billy can _tell._

And Billy swears he can feel his heartbeat climb up into his freaking _teeth_ as Steve rips the paper off the little box his gift is in and cracks it open wide.

"Is this…" Steve says softly, quietly. Hesitantly. Like he doesn't get it. Like maybe he doesn't want it. Like maybe Billy has made a huge mistake - 

Steve takes the little silver key out of the little red box that's usually meant for _jewelry_ for _girls_ and holds up it so it catches the late afternoon sun and shines with it. 

"Billy," he says, still with that crushing note of hesitation held deep in his voice, the one that penetrates all the way down into Billy's freaking _bones_ and he says, "what is this a key to?"

Billy looks away. He can't take looking at Steve for the rejection he _knows_ is about to come his way. He watches his boots, looks down at the soft, green grass beneath the Camaro's wheels as his heart plummets towards it and buries itself ten feet under. 

"I got an apartment," Billy says quietly, voice breaking embarrassingly over the soft mess he's found himself to be.

And he waits, waits for the softness he's put on display to be thrown away, to be chucked into the dumpster like the day old chicken the old man in the grimy white apron has just stepped out of the restaurant to throw into the overflowing dumpster that sits just behind the place and not nearly far enough away from them and yeah, Billy really should have picked out a better spot for this, like there would be a better, more optimal spot to have your heart crushed but then…

But then Steve does _absolutely_ the most _unexpected_ thing Billy could think he _would_ do - Steve _laughs._ He outright whoops with it and the sound crackles across the field, filling the entire space up completely and Billy isn't sure if the sound is meant to pick his heart up off the ground, to dig it up out of the dirt or to crush it, to compact it in deeper, to bury it more. Like maybe…

...Maybe it was ridiculous. Maybe it was ridiculous thinking Steve would want to move in with him, maybe -

But then Steve tackles him with this hug that has them both almost falling off the car and he's pressing kisses into the side of Billy's neck and Billy's heart not just digs itself up outta the dirt, Billy's heart _soars._

"I can't believe you got us our own _apartment!"_ Steve squeals, words half-muffled against Billy's neck with how close he's pressed up to it. "This is the best birthday gift _ever!"_

He tilts his head back just enough to look Billy in the eye as he says, "You're so romantic." 

Billy feels his smile dig itself out from where it had fallen, too and he wraps an arm around Steve and he shrugs all at the same time. All he can think to say is, "I mean, you know, it's _whatever."_

Because he feels all tense and rigid, like he's got some puzzle pieces jammed in all wrong. Because of course Steve loves it. Loves him. How could he have doubted that fact that much that fast?

Steve laughs again and it shakes Billy a little bit loose. "It's not _whatever,_ it's _romantic_ and I love it and I'll love the apartment and I very much love _you,"_ Steve says like the giant mushball that he is.

And it takes a minute for Billy's head to come down from the clouds, for his heart to settle back into place in his chest, for those puzzle pieces to reorient themselves into the correct positions, the correct spaces. It takes a minute, but finally, Billy says, "Yeah, I love you, too," and he presses a soft, chaste kiss to the top of Steve's head.

He's totally going to plan Steve a birthday party with all his little nerd friends, even if it has to be a week late. Because Steve deserves a party. Steve deserves the _world_ and Billy's going to give as much of it to him as he can possibly manage. 

  
  



End file.
